The invention relates generally to the field of management of complex systems, and more particularly to arrangements for managing complex systems such as distributed digital data processing systems.
As digital data processing systems, or computers, have become smaller and less expensive, individual computers are being used by individuals and small groups. To enhance sharing of data, communications among users and economy in connection with resources which may be infrequently used by an individual, computers have been connected into net-works which communicate by means of messages transmitted over communications links, which include, in addition to the computers used directly by the various users, servers which, for example, store large amounts of data which may be accessed, used and updated by a number of users in the system, thereby facilitating sharing of data. Servers may also control printers, telecommunications links, and so forth. In addition, servers may provide specialized computational services, such as database searching and sorting, and so forth. The various computers, which are termed clients, and servers are interconnected by a communications link to permit messages to be transferred among the various computers and servers comprising the distributed system.
The invention provides a new and improved control arrangement for controlling and monitoring a complex system, such as a distributed digital data processing system in which a plurality of computers communicate over, for example, a local area network.
In brief summary, the control arrangement includes one or more presentation modules, functional modules and access modules that communicate through kernel means to process requests generated in response to commands from an operator, and to display responses to the operator. The presentation modules handle operator interface functions, including receipt of commands from an operator and presentation of responses thereto. In response to a command from an operator, the presentation module generates a request. The kernel means receives a request and may route it to a functional module for further processing. The functional modules handle general functional operations in connection with processing a request. In response to a request, a functional module generates one or more requests (sometimes for convenience called subsidiary requests in what follows) that it transfers to the kernel means or to other functional modules for processing. The kernel means routes subsidiary requests which it receives to an access module for processing. The access modules handle primitive operations in connection with the entities comprising the complex system.
In general, in one aspect, the invention features a system for controlling and carrying out management functions over an assemblage of entities, wherein the entities interface within the assemblage for control of primary information handling functions and the entities further interface with the system to permit the carrying out of the management functions. The system includes stored management modules adapted to carry out the management functions by independently interpreting and executing selected management-related commands, a kernel comprising a table of dispatch pointers for directing the commands to the respective modules in which they are to be interpreted and executed, and an enroller for enrolling new management modules into the system by adding further pointers to the table.
Preferred embodiments of this aspect include the following features. The management modules are adapted for one or more of requesting status information from the entities, modifying management parameters of the entities, or enabling self-test modes of the entities. The system also includes stored management specification information listing, in compliance with a universal specification language having a common syntax for representing the attributes and operations of any arbitrary manageable entity, the attributes which relate to the entities functioning and control, and the management functions of the entities. The management specification information may further list the attributes and operations of entities which are subordinate to other entities. The management specification information includes polling information in predetermined fields of the common syntax. The polling information includes fields for specifying a default rate and a maximum polling rate at which the values of attributes should be requested from the entities. The management specification information may also include partition information in predetermined fields of the common syntax, the partition information representing groups of attributes having common data types. The management specification information may also include aggregation information in predetermined fields of the common syntax. The aggregation information represents groups of attributes having related functions in the management of the entity.
The management specification information may also include command information in predetermined fields of the common syntax, the command information lists the management functions which the entities are adapted to perform, the structure of the commands to be issued to the entities, and the structure of the replies to be received. The structure of the requests to be issued includes fields for listing arguments to a command. The structure of the replies to be received includes fields used for indicating the successful completion of the requested operation. The structure of the replies to be received includes fields used for indicating error conditions causing unsuccessful completion of the requested operation.
At least one management module includes an access module implementing protocols for communicating with one or more entities. The protocols are consistent with Ethernet standards or DECnet Phase IV standards, or DECnet Phase V standards.
Each command includes fields listing at least a related entity and operation, and the kernel includes a dispatcher for receiving and forwarding commands based at least in part on the entity and operation listed therein. The table of dispatch pointers comprises a directed graph of data structures, successive data structures in the graph corresponding to fields of the commands. The dispatcher includes a parser for parsing the directed graph in accordance with the entity and operation listed in a command to locate a terminal data structure having a dispatch pointer. The directed graph includes wildcard flags and successive data structures which may correspond to any value in a particular field of a command. The directed graph includes ellipsis flags and successive data structures which may correspond to any number of values in fields of commands. The parser includes a best-match unit for determining the most exact match for fields of a command, by searching first for exact matches for fields and then for wildcard matches for fields, or by searching first for exact matches for fields, then for ellipsis matches for fields.
The system includes a presentation device for displaying information to a user and receiving commands from a user, the commands and information being in specific predetermined formats. A presentation module receives commands from the presentation device and forwards information to the presentation device, the presentation module including conversion code to convert information received from an entity into a predetermined format for the presentation device, and forwarding code for forwarding commands from the presentation device to the dispatcher. The presentation module includes user interface information defining modes in which users interact with the system. The user interface information includes help information for providing information to the user on how to use the system. The user interface information includes graphic mode information defining pop-up menu contents and command line parse tables.
The kernel also includes a class database defining the different management information available from the respective entities. The presentation module includes menu generation routines for extracting data from the class database and generating menus of valid commands for display to the user. The menu generation routines are adapted to determine information relating to the configuration of said assemblage and generate menus of available entities for display to the user.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a management module adapted to be stored for carrying out management functions by independently interpreting and executing selected management-related commands, for use in a system for controlling and carrying out management functions over an assemblage of entities. In preferred embodiments, the module includes dispatch pointers pointing to the module and associated with commands which are interpreted and executed by the module.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a system for retrieving management information about an assemblage of entities in response to commands specifying a time schedule, wherein the entities interface within the assemblage for control of primary information handling functions and the entities further interface with the system to permit the accessing of the management information. The system includes storage containing records relating to the management information, each record including an indication of an associated time, and an information manager for retrieving management information contained in the records or accessing management information from the entities in response to a command, comprising a scheduler for possibly issuing a succession of subsidiary accesses or retrievals corresponding to the command at possibly multiple times according to the time schedule.
Preferred embodiments of this aspect include the following features.
A historical data recorder periodically accesses and stores new management information in the records in response to a predetermined schedule. The system is adapted to respond to a command specifying at least one desired time range, the time range possibly including past, present and future times, and the information manager includes means for satisfying the command by retrieving management information contained in the records, if possible, and otherwise accessing information relating to the specified time range from the entities. The information manager is configured to satisfy a command having a time range which includes all times prior to a specified time, by retrieving any record which is stored in the records during the time range, or otherwise accessing the information from the entities. The information manager is configured to satisfy a command by immediately accessing management information from the entities. Events occurring within the network are treated as a component of the state of the network and are stored in the records.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a system for controlling and carrying out management functions over an assemblage of entities, wherein the entities interface within the assemblage for control of primary information handling functions and the entities further interface with the system to permit the carrying out of the management functions. The system includes stored management modules adapted to carry out the management functions by independently interpreting and executing selected management-related commands, storage containing domain specification information defining groups of entities, and a kernel adapted to issue commands to all entities of one the group by issuing individual commands to appropriate management modules.
Preferred embodiments of this aspect include the following features. The domain specification information complies with a universal specification language having a common syntax for representing any arbitrary group of entities. The common syntax provides for the incorporation of entities from a first domain into a second domain by reference to the first domain. The common syntax provides for the creation of subdomains of entities wholly contained within other domains. At least one management module comprises a domain management module for establishing and maintaining the domain specification information. The domain management module is responsive to commands for one or more of adding or deleting entities from groups, creating groups, or deleting groups. The domain management module is responsive to commands having filter procedures selecting entities of one or more particular domains. The filter procedures may select entities of subdomains wholly contained within other domains.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a system for controlling and carrying out management functions over an assemblage of entities, wherein the entities interface within the assemblage for control of primary information handling functions and the entities further interface with the system to permit the carrying out of the management functions the system includes stored management modules adapted to carry out the management functions by independently interpreting and executing selected management-related commands and issuing other commands to other modules, each command listing, in conformance with a common command syntax, the identity of the related entity and the operation to be performed, and a kernel comprising a table of dispatch pointers for directing the commands to the respective modules in which they are to be interpreted and executed.
Preferred embodiments of this aspect include the following features. The common command syntax provides fields for specifying subordinate entities, attributes, and operations. A first category of the management modules includes functional modules adapted to provide functional manipulation of data provided by the entities, and a second category of the management modules includes access modules adapted to implement the protocols for communication with the entities. The table of dispatch pointers includes a functional-access aspect facilitating communication between modules of the first category and other modules of the first category or modules of the second category. The system includes presentation modules adapted to receive commands from and forward information to the user using the primary information handling functions of the entities. The table of dispatch pointers includes a presentation-functional aspect facilitating communication between the presentation modules and modules of the first category. One module of the first category comprises a control functional module for communicating received commands directly to modules of the second category.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a system for controlling and carrying out management functions over an assemblage of entities, wherein the entities interface within the assemblage for control of primary information handling functions and the entities further interface with the system to permit the carrying out of the management functions. The system includes stored management modules adapted to carry out the management functions by executing selected management-related commands, and at least one module storing rules identifying selected alarm conditions and comprising a rule generator for generating rules for storage and an alarm condition detector for detecting an alarm condition in response to the contents of the rules.
Preferred embodiments of this aspect include the following features. The management modules are adapted to carry out the management functions by independently interpreting and executing selected management-related commands. At least some management functions generate management information indicating the status of the primary information handling functions of one or more entities. The rules specify values for the management information at one or more times. The system includes storage containing records of the management information, each record including an indication of an associated time. The system includes an historical data recorder for periodically accessing and storing new management information in the records in response to a predetermined schedule.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a system for controlling and carrying out entity management functions over an assemblage of entities and also controlling and carrying out self-management functions over itself, wherein the entities interface within the assemblage for control of primary information handling functions and the entities further interface with the system to permit the carrying out of management functions. The system includes at least one stored management module adapted to carry out the entity management functions by independently interpreting and executing selected commands, and further adapted to carry out the self-management functions on itself by interpreting and executing other commands, and a kernel comprising a table of dispatch pointers for directing the entity and self management commands to the respective modules in which they are to be interpreted and executed.
Preferred embodiments of this aspect include the following features. Each entity management command lists, in conformance with a common command syntax, the identity of the related entity and the operation to be performed, and each self-management command lists, in conformance with the common command syntax, the identity of the related module and the operation to be performed. The kernel includes a dispatcher for receiving and forwarding commands based at least in part on the operation and entity or module listed therein.